Onnidan's Black College Sports Online

Inside The SIAC
January 31, 1999

by Hal Lamar
BCSO Columnist

Previous Column

SOME SHIFTS IN MOREHOUSE ATHLETICS

Former Morehouse Athletic Director Arthur McAfee, who was unceremoniously booted from the post with a lack of specifics from the college, is now back in the post.. Joshua Culbreath, who inherited the job last season under strange circumstances, has been shifted to another position in the department of health and physical education, One of McAfee's first jobs is to assist a special committee seaching for a new head football coach.
Frank Hickson , after only one season and an 0-11 record and some obvious signs the "brother" may have been in over his head, was fired. Rumor has it he got the boot because he complained about certain perks in his contract he didn't get and was later discovered to have never even signed it.
McAfee says they have a plethora of applicants but didn't indicate when the committee would settle on one candidate. McAfee, who stayed at the school as it's head basketball coach, said he was approached by several insiders who asked him to step into the situation to help straighten a few things out. Seems the request came from those close to the school who had orchestrated his shabbily arranged demotion.

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Meanwhile, it seems Hickson has landed on his feet. The coach with nine lives is now an assistant at Oklahoma State

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So who will inherit the job of Morehouse head coach? Tops on the list of this scribe was Livingstone's Rudy Abrams. But North Carolina Central beat me to the punch. The school should now set it's sights on two possibles at the top of my new list: Clark AU offensive coordinator Greg Thompson or Johnson C Smith Head Coach "Wild" Bill Davis who I happen to know wouldn't mind moving back into SIAC country.
But Morehouse best move quickly. Morgan State is in need of a head football to replace Stump Michell and Davis has considerable experience at the Division I level (S.C. State and Tennessee State).

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Now that Tennessee State has given Vivian Fuller the boot, don't be at all surprised if they make another offer to Morris Brown A.D. Gene Bright. He was high on the short list the last time.

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A note of sadness. Earlier this month (January), black college football lost a great coach and booster in Lambert Reed. Those of us who got to know Reed , a Morris Brown alum, gave him the nickname "axe handle" because he used one like a cane to support a bad knee (and occasionally applied it to the rear of misbehaving athletes). Reed brought the college two SIAC championships which unfortunately had to be stricken from the books because of ineligible athletes.
In our frequent conversations, he often said that what Morris Brown, Morehouse and CAU needed was more formidable competition. "We got to schedule tough games to give our kids experience and toughen them up. We owe that to our fans." So he went out and scheduled games with FAMU and South Carolina State. The teams were trounced but it got his point across. They won back to back conference championships.

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Last week's cover of Sports Illustrated featured Shannon Sharpe, former great from Savannah State of the SIAC. Interstingly, the conference has been represented in quite a few superbowls. Even the first one featured Solomon Brannon, the former Morris Brown defensive back who played with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Got an item for INSIDE?
Contact Hal at lamar95@bellsouth.net
More later about the upcoming SIAC tournament in Atlanta.

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